Georgia's been tested; now it's time for final exam

Mark Richt isn't one to bristle when fielding a tough question. But I get the feeling the Georgia coach was a tad put off when a reporter asked him if he thought his Bulldogs were "untested" heading into the SEC Championship Game against Alabama.

Georgia has played only two ranked teams, losing to South Carolina and beating Florida, while the Crimson Tide has faced LSU and Texas A&M in conference and opened the season against Michigan.

"We've already played the No. 2 team in the country (Florida) once this year and had a good day against them (a 17-9 UGA victory)," Richt said during a Sunday conference call. "We can only play who's on our schedule."

Granted, the Bulldogs' path to the SEC Championship Game was less cluttered than other teams in their division, which is why the Dawgs were preseason picks to win the East.

But it's not like officials at the school asked the SEC for and received an easier slate.

They got what they got.

And with conference expansion now becoming an annual event, league schedules are written down in pencil.

With the addition of Texas A&M and Missouri to the SEC this season, UGA lost Alabama and picked up Mizzou.

That was fortunate, certainly.

Still, you don't know just how tough a schedule is until the season starts to take shape.

Southern Cal was ranked No. 1 in the preseason poll, but the Trojans are 7-5 and likely headed to the Sun Bowl.

Arkansas was No. 10 when all the teams were 0-0, and the Razorbacks ended up 4-8.

A couple of squads of note didn't make the Top 25 released in August, although both received votes that put them just outside the rankings.

One would be Notre Dame — that would be 12-0, No. 1 Notre Dame, the one that will play for a national championship on Jan. 7.

The other is Auburn — that would be 3-9, worst Tiger team since the leather helmet era Auburn, the one whose program has imploded since winning a national crown in 2010.

Still, if you want to say Georgia is lucky to be in Atlanta for the second consecutive season, you're correct. But aren't all teams that get to this point beneficiaries of good fortune?

After beating Georgia in October, South Carolina could've put itself in line for an SEC and national title with a win over Florida, even after losing to LSU.

Things didn't work out that way.

And if you want to play the comparative score game, Florida's 44-11 win over USC, combined with USC's 35-7 rout of Georgia, predicted a Gator blowout of the Bulldogs and a ticket to Atlanta for Will Muschamp's bunch.

That didn't happen.

And Alabama went from being a team hailed as so superior to the rest of the college football world it belonged in the NFL to one that lost to Texas A&M and fell to No. 4 in the polls.

Yet this Saturday in the Georgia Dome, it'll be the Crimson Tide, No. 2 in the BCS rankings, squaring off with No. 3 Georgia in a game that will complete the national title matchup.

Tested?

Any team that plays an SEC schedule has been tested. And at 11-1 these Bulldogs have every right to be one of two teams allowed to take the conference's final exam.

"We'll be prepared," Richt said. "We'll be well prepared. But they will, too. That's why you kick it off and play. We'll just have to see how it goes."